4 tips for busy PR managers—from a busy PR manager

Seems I have lots to learn and improve upon, but there are a few things that are going right. Based on what’s working for me, here are four tips for the other PR managers out there.

1. Turn off notifications if you can and schedule time for checking e-mail and social media. If you check Twitter, e-mail, etc., every time you get pinged, you will go insane (and the road to insanity will be unproductive). Most of us, including yours truly, check stuff too frequently. Most of the time, it’s unnecessary. Managerial work is characterized by frenetic pace and staggering amounts of interruption. If you can get 30 minutes of uninterrupted work in a day as a manager you are doing great. So, why let e-mail and social media contribute to the problem?

2. Make sure you institutionalize learning about new tools. While the digital universe has not fundamentally changed the basics of PR, it has quickened the speed of the profession (and life) and altered the skill set slightly. Your team needs to know about the myriad new digital tools that are constantly emerging. Whether through official policy or informal sharing of content—maybe a mix of both—PR managers must ensure their people are constantly curious. There are a ton of places online to learn about new social media tools. (You’re reading one of them.) Follow them and share them with your people.